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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > DIN

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connect today's word to others:

From Old English, we get our word din, meaning "a loud, confusing noise." Don't you love how short it is?

If din is a morsel, here are some mouthfuls:

1. A four-syllable synonym of din that comes from Greek is c___ph__y.

2. A seven-syllable synonym of din that comes from Shakespearean battle scenes is a___ums and ex_______s.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

make your point with...

"DIN"

A din is a loud, harsh sound (that's usually made by lots of things at once).

Pronunciation:
DIN

Part of speech:
Noun.
It's the countable kind: "a din," "the din," "this din;"
but we don't often talk about plural dins.

Other forms:
None are in common use today.

How to use it:

Often we talk about the din of something: 
   the din of traffic, 
   the din of the city streets, 
   the din of construction, 
   the din of the chattering birds, 
   the din of fussing toddlers,
   the din of angry voices,
   the din of a frat party, 
   the din of the cheering crowd in the stadium, 
   the din of an open office space sliced into a hundred cubicles.

You can shout above the din or hear something above the din. A sound can get lost in the din, or rise above (or cut through) the din. And you can talk about things that form, raise, or produce a din--or about people who silence the din. 

Sometimes we add an adjective: a muffled din, a roaring din, a reverberating din, a shrieking din, a deafening din.

You can even get figurative: the din of the nightly news, the din of arguments on Twitter, the din of accusations and recriminations.

Finally, it's rare today, but if you're trying to sound poetic, you can use "din" as a verb. Here's Isaac Asimov: "The metal walls dinned back the clangor of his steps." And William Wordsworth: "The bag-pipe dinning on the midnight moor."

examples:

My daughter's tiny voice disappears in the din of the crowded restaurant.

It wasn't until the people's demands for an investigation escalated into a din that the government acquiesced.

study it now:

Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "din" means when you can explain it without saying "clamor" or "racket."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "From (a certain place) came the din of (a certain group of people, or a certain thing happening)."

Example: "From the back yard came the din of fifteen animated preschoolers hyped up on cupcakes."

before you review:

Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.

Uncommon Opposites!

In each issue this month, I'll give you a rare word and its definition, and you come up with its more familiar opposite.

For example, if I say, "To exfiltrate is to secretly withdraw people from a dangerous situation," then you come up with the opposite: "infiltrate." Or if I say, "An allograph is something written by someone other than the person concerned," then you come up with "autograph."

We'll take these in order from easy to hard as the month goes on. Ready?

From our previous issue: To estivate is to pass the summer in a particular place. What’s the opposite?

Answer: To hibernate.

Try this today: An advertisee is a person who views an advertisement. What’s the opposite?

review today's word:

1. The opposite of DIN is

A. AWARENESS.
B. SILENCE.
C. FOCUS.

2. The _____ wrapped up; the din subsided into a _____.

A. season .. single story arc
B. argument.. compromise
C. party .. low hum

Answers are below.

a final word:

Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From Liesl's blog:
   36 ways to study words.
   Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
   How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.

To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

Answers to review questions:
1. B
2. C

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